As a popular VoIP communication service provider, Nextiva is a secure online communication platform for businesses of all sizes. Subscribers can use Nextiva services to make and receive voice, video and conference calls and exchange messages from a local or toll free number. These services can be accessed through a desktop, laptop, smartphone or IP deskphone through app or browser interfaces. Nextiva services are bundled into 3 business communication plans and 4 contact center plans. Pricing for all plans is dependent on the number of users. Key services included in the business communication plans are voicemail, auto attendants, contact management and select app integrations.
Like Nextiva, GoogleVoice is a popular VoIP communication platform.
Google Voice is part of the Google workspace set up. This VoIP communication system caters to the needs of businesses in 14 countries across the world. Subscribers can call countries excluded from this list but cannot get a local phone number for those locations. There are 3 subscription plans to choose from with a wide range of features such as voice and video calling, text messaging and voicemail transcriptions.
The Essential plan by Nextiva costs businesses $30.95 per user per month for teams of up to 4 users. Subscribers can make and receive unlimited voice and video calls within the USA and Canada. In addition, they can also access voicemail, auto attendants, call recording and other features.
Depending on the size of your team, you will need to pay between $29.95 an $35.95 per user per month to upgrade to the Nextiva Professional plan. In addition to the essential plan features, this includes a multi-level auto attendant, Salesforce/HubSpot integrations and conferencing calling with up to 40 participants.
The Nextiva Enterprise plan is a further upgrade. Monthly subscription fees range from $39.95 to 45.95 per user depending on the team size. This is ideal for medium sized growing teams. In addition to the features included in the other plans, it also includes conference calls with unlimited participants, single sign-on facility and CRM integration.
Google Voice plan subscriptions seem to be a fraction of the Nextiva plan subscriptions.
The Starter plan by Google Voice is priced at $10 per user per month. An account can be used by up to 10 agents in up to 10 locations. The plan includes call forwarding, voicemail transcription, Google app integration and more.
A $20 monthly user license fee gives businesses access to the Google Voice Standard plan. This can be used by everyone on your team no matter where they are. It includes features like ad-hoc call recording and ring groups along with all the Starter plan features.
For $30 per user per month, businesses can subscribe to the Premier plan. This includes features such as automatic call recording and advanced reporting as well as features of the Standard plan.
Apart from IP deskphones, Nextiva subscribers can also make and receive calls through a web browser or desktop app.
Similar to Nextiva, subscribers can make and receive calls through a Google Voice web application or deskphone.
The Nextiva user account can be accessed through smartphone apps to make and receive calls or exchange messages.
With similar connectivity as offered by Nextiva, Google Voice subscribers stay connected wherever they may be through a free mobile app.
All Nextiva plan subscribers can customize an auto attendant to route incoming calls. Professional and Enterprise plan subscribers can customize sub menus as well. Calls are routed to agents based on the caller’s keystroke responses to these menus.
Nextiva's universal availability of call routing takes it ahead of GoogleVoice.
While the Starter plan does not include IVR or auto attendant features, the Standard and Premier plans include routing through a multi-level auto attendant.
Businesses can improve the caller experience offered by customizing their auto attendant greetings and menus. Custom messages must be recorded and saved as 8 or 16 bit .wav files.
1. Sign in to your Nextiva account with admin access.
2. Click on Sites.
3. Click on Auto Attendant.
4. Select Greetings from the drop-down menu.
5. Upload your custom recording.
Like Nextiva a Google Voice subscription is inclusive of greeting customization from the app or supported web browser.
Step 1: Open settings.
Step 2: Click on Voicemail greetings.
Step 3: Click on the record button and start recording your message.
While live call monitoring facilities that allow supervisors to listen to live calls is not available with any of the Nextiva plans, supervisors can track agent performances in other ways. The Nextiva Essential and Professional plan services include giving supervisors the ability to read call logs and call history files. These features are also included in the Enterprise plan. In addition, calls made by Enterprise plan users can be recorded and voicemails can be transcribed.
Nextiva and GoogleVoice have similar call monitoring capabilities.
Subscribing to the Google Voice Starter plan gives agents access to voicemail transcriptions and the ability to transfer calls from one agent to another or to a supervisor. Supervisors can also assess their team’s productivity by reading call log reports.
An in-built eDiscovery feature makes it possible for Google Voice Standard plan subscribers to search and find specific conversations from their calls, text messages and voicemail records. Agents can also record calls if they want to listen to them later.
Businesses subscribing to the Google Voice Premier plan can access advanced reports on calls handled by their agents and automatically record all calls.
If you want to record calls, you will need to subscribe to the Nextiva Enterprise plan. The Essential and Professional plans do not include this feature. Incoming and outgoing calls can be recorded manually or automatically and stored for 6 months from the ate of recording.
As with Nextiva, the availability of call recording the feature is dependent on the plan chosen. The Starter plan does not include this feature. It is automated for Premier plan subscribers and can be activated ad-hoc for Standard plan subscribers.
Businesses that need to make calls to numbers outside the USA and Canada will have to bear additional costs. Calls are billed at a location-specific per minute rate. While calls to mobile and landline numbers in India are charged $0.09 per minute, calls to Australia are billed at a $0.03 per minute rate.
Like Nextiva, GoogleVoice bills international calls on usage.
You can make unlimited calls to numbers within the USA and Canada and other Google Voice accounts. Location-specific per minute charges are applicable for international calls. For example, the cost of a call to Australia ranges from $0.01 to $1.95 per minute.
Accounts are easy to create with Nextiva. Businesses can create their accounts on the Nextiva website and use the same to define user roles. Alternatively, they can do this on the Nextiva app for desktop and mobile devices. A drag-and-drop call flow builder gives them the ability to customize greetings and call routing menus. Once the account is set up, users can access Nextiva services through an app for desktop and mobile devices, a web browser extension or certain IP deskphones.
Nextiva and GoogleVoice have similarities in terms of account creation.
An existing Google account can be used to set up a Google Voice account on the app/ web browser. Services can then be accessed through smartphone apps for android and iOS devices, web browsers and desk phones with Obi Edition firmware.
